The death of Gram Parsons occurred on September 18, 1973, in room eight of Joshua Tree Inn, near Joshua Tree National Park. Encouraged by street manager Phil Kaufman, Parsons returned to the park after completing his latest recording session. Previously, he confessed to Kaufman his desire to be cremated and his ashes scattered in the park if he died.
Parsons traveled to Joshua Tree with his girlfriend, his assistant Michael Martin and boyfriend Martin. Parsons spent time in the desert during the day and in the local bar at night, consuming barbiturates and alcohol every day. On September 18, after injecting himself with morphine, Parsons overdosed. On September 19, he was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital.
After the death of Parsons and to fulfill his wishes, Kaufman and Martin arrive at Los Angeles International Airport in private Martin Cadillac Hearse disguised as a morgue worker. Under the impression that the couple was employed by the Parsons family, Western Airlines released his body to them. They then took her to Joshua Tree and burned her. The burning coffin was reported by participants camping to the local authorities, who investigated the incident and identified the two perpetrators.
The body of Parsons was partially cremated. His charred body was found and returned to his family. Meanwhile, Kaufman and Martin are accused of massive burglaries and fined for burning coffins, while they also have to pay for Parsons funeral. The remains of Parsons were then buried in New Orleans.
Video Death of Gram Parsons
Kematian Latar Belakang dan Parsons
During the 1960s, as a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons became fascinated by the Joshua Tree National Monument. The singer visited the park several times. During the recording sessions held in the summer of 1973 (later released on Grievous Angel album, in 1974), Parsons reduced heroin use, but retrieved the habit when the recording finished. Incited by his street manager Phil Kaufman, Parsons continued on to Joshua Tree in September 1973. He was accompanied by Margaret Fisher (his high school girlfriend, with whom he had just started his relationship); assistant to Michael Martin and his girlfriend Dale McElroy. Parsons drove Martin and McElroy in his new Jaguar, while Fisher flew from San Francisco.
Kaufman later stated that at the time, Parsons's lawyers were preparing divorce papers for him to serve them to Parsons' wife, Gretchen Burrell, while the singer was at Joshua Tree on Sept. 20. The travelers lived in Joshua Tree Inn, room eight. During the journey, Parsons often retreat to the desert, while at night the entourage will visit the local bar, where he sits with bands. Except for McElroy, he and his friends consume alcohol and barbiturates in high quantities. On September 18, Martin returned to Los Angeles to supply the group with marijuana. That night, after injecting himself with liquid morphine that he bought from an unknown girl, Parsons overdosed. Fisher put Parsons as a suppositor of ice cubes, and then bathed in cold water. Instead of moving her around the room, she lulls him and goes to buy coffee for Parsons, while he leaves McElroy to take care of him. When respiration becomes irregular and then stops, McElroy tries to resuscitate. When he failed, Fisher tried again after he returned. After further attempts failed, they decided to call an ambulance. Parsons was declared dead on arrival at the High Desert Memorial Hospital at 00:15 on September 19, 1973 in Yucca Valley, California.
Maps Death of Gram Parsons
Initially, the San Bernardino County coroner declared Parsons' death "a natural cause, waiting for autopsy". An inconclusive autopsy is then performed. Fisher telephoned Kaufman, who arrived at Joshua Tree on September 19th. Fisher had cleared all the medicine from Space Eight immediately after Parsons's death, while Kaufman began searching for Parsons cars upon his arrival. Kaufman then ushered Fisher and McElroy back to Los Angeles in Parsons' Jaguar to escape the police if they were looking for two women.
Kaufman then went on to make a phone call to San Bernardino Coroner's office and found that the body was transferred to Los Angeles International Airport to be transferred to Western Airlines. He then telephoned the company and was informed that the body would be sent to New Orleans to attend the funeral. The embalmed Parsons body was reportedly stolen on 20 September. Kaufman and Martin arrived at Los Angeles International Airport in McElroy's 1953 Cadillac Hearse and a forged worker from a funeral home, claiming that the Parsons family had arranged for them to take the corpse to New Orleans. via a chartered flight departing from Van Nuys Airport. The cargo manager could not find a transfer request along with his letters, but assumed that it was a last minute change and decided to release the body to the two men. Kaufman signed the letters as "Jeremy Nobody", and began asking a patrolman who parked the car behind the hearse to move his car so he could load the coffin. The patrolman helped Kaufman and Martin, who struggled to move the coffin to load it. As a result of his nervousness over the presence of his patroller and his previous alcohol consumption, Martin drove the car to the hangar wall in front of the officer. The patrolman did not suspect any illegal activity, and both left with Parsons body.
Earlier that year, Kaufman and Parsons attended Clarence White's funeral. After singing the impromptu song "Farther Along" while the coffin was lowered, Parsons told Kaufman "do not let this happen to me" and explain to him his desire to be cremated and his ashes scattered in Joshua Tree. When they arrived at Joshua Tree, Kaufman opened the coffin and poured five gallons of gasoline and burned his body. On the way back to Los Angeles, the two stopped to sleep from their drunk. When they woke up, the hearse did not start and Kaufman had to climb to reach the mechanical shop. The hearse began again after some improvements and both returned to the streets, where they were later involved in a pile of cars on the highway after they crashed another car. A police officer stopped them and handcuffed both of them when several beer cans fell from the vehicle after one of the doors opened. While the officer made sure no other driver was injured in the accident, Martin slipped his hand out of the handcuffs and fled with Kaufman after starting the hearse. Since the officer did not take a driver's license from either of them, he could not identify them.
After the theft, the coffin containing the remains of Parsons was seen burned by the campers telling the park authorities. A Green Airlines green body bag was found beside the coffin. The body is not cremated properly and its 35 pounds is left. Witnesses saw the hearse coming out of the place that forced other vehicles out of the way. Investigators Joe E. Hamilton stated after the mugshots of the perpetrators believed to be shown to witnesses from the airport that the police were close to identification, and that they had a "possible" license number for the hearse. Kaufman and Martin were identified from the photographs, captured and charged with large thefts. While both decisions await, Coroner San Bernardino told the press that Parsons' death was caused by "multiple drug abuse, in part because of whiskey, barbiturates and cocaine".
Kaufman and Martin were given thirty days' imprisonment, fined $ 300 and charged $ 708 for funeral fees for Parsons funeral in New Orleans. Kaufman then held a charity party to raise funds to pay back the sanctions imposed. The show is called "Kaufman Koffin Kaper Koncert". Doctor Demento is a leading disc jockey, while beer bottles with Parsons figure on the label and the inscription "Gram Pilsner: Liquor for what you" presented.
Aftermath
Small family service organized for Parsons burial in New Orleans. Surprised by the theft, cremation and fundraising failures, the family regarded it as a Kaufman publicity stunt and denied any promise between Parsons and his manager. He is buried in Memorial Lawn Cemetery with the headstone of "God's Lonely Lion". Kaufman wrote about his experience stealing Parsons's corpse in his autobiography, Road Mangler Deluxe . The event was loosely portrayed in the 2003 movie The Grand Parsons, starring Johnny Knoxville.
Joshua Tree National Park does not officially recognize the Parsons link to the park, and its warnings do not appear on the map. Rangers were given the option to tell the story, but did not appear in the brochure as well. While Parsons are burned a quarter mile from Cap Rock, the location is often confused with where it really is. Emergency warning signs and inscriptions are found around the rocks, and cleared by park guards. Tourists and Parsons fans visit this site, as well as Joshua Tree Inn, where a guitar-shaped statue for Parsons can be found outside. Room 8 is booked by the current owners for people who ask specifically to stay there because of its connection with Parsons and is not offered for guests who come. The only furniture left over from the time was a mirror found near the bed.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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